Sealed unitary compressor



Patented Aug. 1, 1950 SEALED UNITARY COMPRESSOR Richard '1. Tiedje, Los Angelcs, Califl, assignor to Joseph Schilling, Los Angeles, Calif.

Application January 8, 1949, Serial No. 69,941

5 Claims. (01. 230-68 This invention relates to an hermetically sealed unit that combines therein a compressor and an electric motor to drive the compressor and is particularly adapted for use in refrigeration.

An object of the present invention is to provide a unit of the character indicated that, while hermetically sealed to retain lubrication and exclude contaminating foreign matter, is readily disassembled for repair and other service.

Another object of the. invention is to provide, in a unit of the character indicated, a novel compressor construction that is long-wearing and has a high output efiiciency.

More specifically, the invention contemplates the provision of a novel opposed piston doubleacting air compressor that is housed in a frame that also comp-rises the support for an electric motor, an enclosure for the compressor and motor, and separable sealing means between. said frame and enclosure.

The invention also has for its objects to provide such means that are positive in operations, convenient in use, easily installed in a Working position and easily disconnected therefrom, economical of manufacture, relatively simple, and of general superiority and serviceability.

The invention also comprises novel details of construction and novel combinations and arrangements of parts, which will more fully appear in the course of the following description. However, the drawings merely show andthe following description merely describes one embodiment of the present invention, which is given by way of illustration or example only.

In the drawings, like reference characters designate similar parts in the several Views.

Fig. 1 is an elevational view, partly in central section of a combined compressor and motor unit according to the present invention, the housing for said unit being shown in vertical section.

Fig. 2 is a plan sectional view thereof as taken substantially on the plane of line 2--2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical sectional View showing the details of one of the two air compressing means of the present device.

Figs. 4, 5 and 6 are further enlarged face views, respectively, of a valve seat, a flapper air inlet valve, and an air outlet valve washer employed in the present invention.

The unitary device herein contemplated and, as illustrated, comprises, generally a dome-like housing it that has an open bottom and is provided with a terminal mount plug H, a support frame l2 removably held within housing l9 and comprising a lower section l3 and an upper section [4,2111 electric motor l5 carried by said upper section, an operating crank 16 driven by said motor, a dual piston unit I! reciprocated by said crank, opposed cylinders it carried by the frame and clamped between the sections [3 and 14 thereof within which said piston unit operates, valvemeans l9 operable by the pistons, and passage means 20 for conducting air or gas to the cylinders and past the valve means to be displaced into .and subsequently outward of the housing 10.

The housing ll] preferably has a cylindrical wall 2| which, at its bottom end, is provided with suitable lugs 22 whereby the same .is adapted to be fastened to a support. The top of the housing is domed and provided with a central opening 23. An inlet 24, near the bottom of the housing and an outlet 25 near or at its top, are provided.

The terminal mount plug ll comprises a plate 25 that fits opening 23, the same having a flange 2'! limiting theoutward position of said plug. A snap ring 28 removably holds the plug in its opening. Leakage around the plug is obviated by an O-ring 29 carried by the plug and sealing the opening. Depending on Whether the motor 15 requires two or three electrical conductors, said plug I l carries two or three terminals 39, said terminals comprising conventional devices that receive electrical conductors from a current source and transmit the current by means of conductors connected to said motor.

The frame l2 fits within housing IO and is held therein by a snap ring 3!. The lower section l3 of the frame is provided with cylindrical base 32 that has a snug sliding fit in the cylindrical wall 2| of the housing. An annular groove 33 is formed in said base, the same being in communication with inlet 24, and O-rings 3.4, carried by said base, seal against the housin wall 21 on each side of groove 33.

The lower section I3 is provided with symmetrically arranged bearing halves 35 and the upper section 14 is provided with mating bearing halves 35-a that cooperate to clamp the opposed cylinders l8. Bolts 3% connect the frame sections and can be reached only when the frame is removed from the housing. Between the clamping bearings there is provided a space in which crank it and piston unit I? operate.

The upper frame section is provided with a vertical bearing 38 in which is fixed upwardly extending bushing 35). The shaft 43 of motor l5 rotates in said bushing, the lower end of said shaft carrying the crank iii. 'In the usual way,

of the piston unit. At each end, said unit is proopposed cylinders I8.

The construction of cylinders 18 is best seen in Fig. 3. Each cylinder comprises an outer cylinder part 48 in which is formed an end bore 49 for a bushing 56 in which piston 4'1 operates. Said bore 49 terminates'in a shoulder Entering bore 49 there is provided a smaller blind bore 52 and, thereabove, a smaller through bore 53. Bushing 50 is held in the cylinder part 40 by a snap ring 54 and the bore 49 is sealed by an O-ring 55.

The valve means l9 comprises a valve seat 56 (Fig. 4) located against shoulder 5|, a flapper valve 51 (Fig. 5) behind the valve seat, and a discharge valve disc 58 (Fig. 6) in front of the valve seat and in bore 53.

The valve seat, preferably of synthetic rubber, has a port 59 aligned with bore 52 and a port to aligned with bore 53. The flapper valve comprises an element formed of spring material and has most of its middle part removed to provide a resilient tongue 6| that normally lies against the valve seat 56 to close the port 59 thereof. A port 62 in the flapper valve aligns with port 60 of the valve seat". The valve disc 58 is held by a spring 83 against port 60 to close the same.

It will be evident from the above that movement of piston 41 outward of its bore will unseat tongue El and draw air or gas from bore 52 through port 59 into the bore of bushing 59, and that reverse movement of the piston will displace the air or gas through ports 62 and 60 into and past valve disc 58 into bore 53. The air or gas escaping from bores 53 of the opposite cylinders l8, alternately, will fill the interior of the housing and will find egress through outlet 25. With a motor operating at 1750 R. P. M., there will .be 3500 ejections of air or gas into the housing to provide a relatively large output regardless of the small size of the ports controlling the flow."

The passage means comprises the mentioned groove 33 and a tubular connector 64 communicating said groove and the bore 52 of each cylinder. Said connectors are tightly fitted in the base part 32 and are sealed by O-rings 65 where they connect with the cylinders. Said connectors also serve both as locating and non-rotating means for the cylinders.

Lubrication of the device is quite simply accomplished. Oil is introduced to a level indicated by line 66 and reciprocating piston unit i! will agitate said oil to provide effective lubrication for the pistons 41. Much of said oil will lubricate shaft 461 by passing up through a hollow Bl therein and through a communicating port 68 in said shaft, the oil being thus directed to the top of bushing 39.

While the invention that has been illustrated and described is now regarded as the preferred embodiment, the construction is, of course, subject to modifications without departing from the vided with a piston 41, the same operating in the spirit and scope of the invention. It is therefore not desired to restrict the invention to the particular form of construction illustrated and described, but to cover all modifications that may fall within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A compressor unit having a bottom-open housing in which a fluid inlet and outlet are provided, a two-part frame fitting into said housing and removably held therein, sealing means between the housing and frame to enclose the interior of the housing, a pair of opposed cylinders clamped between the frame parts, flapper valve means in each cylinder, passage means for conducting fluid from the inlet to said valve means of each cylinder, a piston unit having a piston at each end and each piston being operatively engaged in each respective cylinder, said unit having a flanged spool portion at the middle thereof, a crank engaged with said spool portion, and an electric motor carried by one of the frame parts for rotating the crank and thereby reciprocating the pistons to draw fluid from the inlet into the interior of the housing and thence outward of the outlet.

2. In a compressor unit, a two-part frame formed with spaced pairs of mating bearing portions, a cylinder clamped between each pair of said portions, a flapper valve at the end of the cylinder bore of each cylinder, an inlet and an outlet passage in each cylinder opposite to the bore thereof, a piston unit having a piston at each end and each piston being operatively engaged in each respective cylinder, said unit having a flanged spool portion at the middle thereof and between the mating bearing portions, a crank engaged with said spool portion, and an electric motor carried by one frame part for rotating the crank and thereby reciprocating the pistons to pump fluid alternately from each inlet passage past each respective flapper valve into each outlet passage.

3. In a compressor unit, a pair of opposed cylinders, each cylinder having an end bore terminating at a shoulder and a blind inlet bore and a through outlet bore opening on the end bore, a valve seat positioned against said shoulder and having inlet and outlet ports aligned with the inlet and outlet bores, a flapper valve having a port also aligned with the outlet bore and formed with a resilient tongue aligned with an controlling the inlet loore, said flapper valve being positioned against and on the end bore side of the valve seat, a displaceable valve disc controlling the outlet ports, and a cylinder bushing in the end bore of the cylinder and tightly fitted thereinto to clamp the valve seat and flapper valve in place.

4. In a compressor unit, a pair of opposed cylinders, each cylinder having an end bore terminating at a shoulder and a blind inlet bore and a through outlet bore opening on the end bore, a valve seat positioned against said shoulder and having inlet and outlet ports aligned with the inlet and outlet bores, a flapper valve having a port also aligned with the outlet bore and formed with a resilient tongue aligned with and controlling the inlet bore, said flapper valve being positioned against and on the end bore side of the valve seat, a displaceable valve disc controlling the outlet ports, a cylinder bushing in the end bore of the cylinder and tightly fitted thereinto to clamp the valve seat and flapper valve in place,

5 and an O-ring seal between said bushing and the cylinder end bore.

5. In a compressor unit, an open-ended housing having inlet and outlet ports, a pair of opposed fluid-pumping cylinders within the h0using, a two-part support clamping said cylinders in spaced relation with each other, one of said parts closing the open end of the housing and having a fluid-conducting groove in communication with the inlet port, and a tubular connector extending between each cylinder and the part having the groove to communicate said groove and the inlet port with said cylinders, said cylinders discharging fluid into the housing and thence through the outlet port.

RICHARD T. TIEDJE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 10 Number Name Date 2,005,578 Drysdale June 18, 1935 2,147,767 Crosley Feb. 21, 1939 2,246,276 Davidson June 17, 1941 

